MOBILE, Alabama -- It took a lot of overtime hours, but Mobile County school maintenance workers have repaired most of the damage to air conditioning units done this summer by vandals.

Some classrooms scattered throughout the county, though, may still be warm as students return on Monday, when temperatures are expected to hit 93 degrees.

“I feel like we’re as good as we can be at this point. That’s not to say there aren’t going to be any outages,” said the system’s facilities manager, Tommy Sheffield. “We’ve pretty much taken care of what was vandalized this summer. I say that with a ‘knock on wood’ that we don’t have any vandalism this weekend.”

Thieves struck about a dozen schools, sometimes breaking apart air conditioning equipment worth $10,000s to steal a couple of hundred-dollars’ worth of copper. Officials estimated that the repairs cost the system about $250,000 in new equipment and overtime costs.

The school system recently installed new security cameras at some campuses.

Some of the schools hit the hardest this summer were Whitley Elementary and Vigor High in Prichard, Leinkauf Elementary in Mobile’s Midtown area, Mobile County Training in the Plateau area, and Williamson High in Mobile’s Maysville community.

Thieves stole computers and classroom equipment at Morningside Elementary near Hank Aaron Stadium, and took construction equipment at Scarborough Middle in northwest Mobile. Both of those schools have undergone major renovation work with federal stimulus dollars.

'To me, it was just cruel mischief'

Someone even drove a truck through a fence at Meadowlake Elementary on Three Notch Road, toppled the gym’s air conditioning unit, and then sneaked inside and started 2 fires.

“If you didn’t know that it happened, you wouldn’t be aware of it by looking at the school now,” said Linda Dutton, Meadowlake’s bookkeeper. “Everything’s been fixed. We’re kind of baffled as to why someone would do that. To me, it was just cruel mischief.”

Dutton said that Morningside’s staff has been looking forward to the first day of class. “It’s always exciting, all of those bright, shinning faces,” she said.

Sheffield said that the school system’s nine air conditioning maintenance workers devoted extensive hours to repairing criminal damage. That’s time they could have spent fixing up and sprucing up at many other of the system’s 100 schools.

“It feels good in the classrooms today,” Sheffield said Friday. “But when you put 30 kids in there, and have a lot of activity going on, that’s not to say we won’t have warm areas. Our guys will continue to work over the weekend.”

Schools in Baldwin County — which also resume classes on Monday — did not experience such vandalism, said system spokesman Terry Wilhite.

Whitley Elementary Principal JaaDaa Holcomb said her school’s air conditioning units were repaired within 2 weeks of being vandalized.

“All of the classrooms do have air. We’re fine,” she said. As for seeing her students return Monday, she said, “I can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait.”